The government of Austria announced a sweeping new lockdown that targets the country's unvaccinated would take effect at midnight on Monday, while those who are fully vaccinated against, or recently recovered from, the Wuhan coronavirus will be exempted.
Starting on Monday, those 12 and older who aren't vaccinated will only be allowed to leave their homes for activities deemed "essential" such as going to work or buying groceries. The lockdown, according to Austria's Interior Minister, will be enforced by police on an "unprecedented scale" with violators facing fines if they're caught in violation of the order.
For the country of around nine million residents, Politico Europe says the lockdown "is expected to impact some 2 million people."
The Associated Press quoted Austria's Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg as saying “It’s our job as the government of Austria to protect the people," something he interprets to mean "there will be a lockdown for the unvaccinated."
#BREAKING Austria lockdown for unvaccinated to start on Monday: chancellor pic.twitter.com/zlL4tkpSn2
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 14, 2021
The nationwide lockdown "will initially last for 10 days and police will go on patrol to check people outside to make sure they are vaccinated, Schallenberg said, adding that additional forces will be assigned to the patrols" while citizens "can be fined up to 1,450 euros ($1,660) if they violate the lockdown."
Austria's government had threatened such a lockdown may be coming late last week, citing high infection rates while blaming unvaccinated citizens for placing a burden on his country's intensive care units.
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Chancellor Schallenberg justified the disparate lockdown by saying "he did not want the two-thirds of vaccinated Austrians to be forced to face the same lockdown as the unvaccinated," Newsweek reported, despite the fact that fully vaccinated individuals can still get breakthrough cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, and — albeit at a diminished rate — still transmit the virus to others.
Even before the nationwide lockdown was made official, Austria's government had implemented policies so that "unvaccinated people who had not recovered from an infection were barred from restaurants, hotels, hairdressing salons and large public events." In addition to the new lockdown, Austria is reportedly considering a vaccine mandate for "some professional groups," according to Chancellor Schallenberg.
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